Six months ago, the Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team basked under bright lights and confetti as they celebrated their second national championship in as many years.
The Ravens dispatched the No. 1 ranked team in the nation and hadn’t lost a game since Dec. 6, 2023 en route to their third Bronze Baby in team history.
This season, the club is bringing back most of its core players and a flock of talented recruits to supplement them.
Time for a three-peat? Not so fast, says Ravens head coach Dani Sinclair.
“We haven’t even played a game,” said Sinclair, who was inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame in May. “I think we’re very talented, but we don’t really have a good sense yet. We might just be real crap when we play our first game.”
While that’s probably hyperbole for a team that has a combined 52-4 record across the past two seasons, there’s a grain of truth there, too.
The national championship isn’t until March and the team’s success is entirely dependent on the work they put in along the way.
Third-year forward Jacqueline Urban said coming off two national championships only makes the team more determined this year.
“It’s important to know what you just came from and what you worked so hard towards because you know what it takes to get there again,” Urban said.
Even so, Sinclair said her biggest job as a coach is keeping her players grounded. With several new players joining the squad this year, Sinclair said she let them know there are no “free passes.”
That also means not talking about the national tournament, which will be hosted by the University of British Columbia this season.
“Anytime anyone has talked about where nationals [are] this year, I just say, ‘I have no idea,’” Sinclair said. “We’re almost a bit over the top in terms of that. Some of it for me is superstition and some of it is just the truth that we really enjoy the work that goes into it.”
She emphasized that the work never stops; the whole team was back in the gym just a few weeks after the championship win.
Another reason for keeping those championship conversations on hold is the departure of the 2023 national tournament MVP and former heartbeat of the team, Kali Pocrnic.
In July, Pocrnic signed a professional contract with Torpan Pojat in Helsinki, Finland. Pocrnic torched U Sports in her university career, finishing third all-time for Carleton in points and assists and second all-time in three-point field goals in only 79 career games.
“For two years, she was the one who was controlling the game,” third-year guard Kyana-Jade Poulin said. “We just need to figure out how to navigate that without her.”
So far, that’s been easier said than done. The team lost two of its three preseason games in late September.
But the exit of the team’s best player is more than just an on-court loss, Sinclair said.
“You never replace someone like Kali,” Sinclair said. “If you try to, you’re just going to fail.”
“There’s a couple of us trying to step up and fill those shoes that she had, which were pretty big ones,” Urban said.
The Ravens will also be without veterans Océane Kounkou and Hadeza Ismaila. Kounkou signed a professional contract with Anagennisi Germasogeias BC in Cyprus, while Ismaila is joining the coaching staff as an assistant.
With that in mind, Sinclair expects the Ravens’ approach to be “a little bit more by committee this year.”
“We’ve been planning for the last couple of years on how that succession plan would work in terms of leadership,” Sinclair said. “We’re really happy with how that’s worked out.”
Two of the most relied-upon faces this season will be Poulin and Urban, who are each only entering their third year of eligibility.
“I don’t want to be one of those players that waver throughout the season,” Urban said. “I just want to be solid and be a threat that way.”
Urban, who picked up OUA rookie of the year honours in 2022-23, has rounded into one of the most formidable rebounders in Ontario, while Poulin’s two-way game was increasingly praiseworthy last season, especially in high-stakes moments.
Dorcas Buisa, Tatyanna Burke, Teresa Donato and Zerina Duvnjak, who all played crucial minutes last season, will also be lynchpins this year.
But with multiple roster departures, the Ravens will rely on new players to step up.
First-year recruit Natalie Francis is the younger sister of Ravens forward Gabrielle Francis. Sinclair said the 6-foot-1 forward “has come a long way already” and will play a “big role” for the team.
There’s also guard Catherine Oliver from Lennoxville, Que., who Sinclair said “competes really hard” and will “take on some ball-handling responsibilities.”
For veterans Poulin and Urban, the new additions have created a fun opportunity to create “vet and freshman type of relationships.”
“I want to bring everybody along and pass on the culture that we have here,” Poulin said.
On the other end of the experience spectrum, Carleton has something of a wild card in guard Noelle Kilbreath, a fifth-year transfer from MacEwan University in Edmonton. But so far, Sinclair said she’s fit right in.
“She’s coming from a program where she had to play significant minutes and carry the entire load of the team offensively,” she said.
Kilbreath has brought a “calming and mature presence to the team,” according to Poulin. Urban added having another veteran player who’s able to step in right away and contribute is key.
“The experience that she has from already playing in U Sports and bringing that over, she’s able to pick things up a little bit more,” Urban said.
“In a lot of ways, I think we have even more depth than we did over the last couple of years,” she said. “Every year you have to reinvent yourself.”
Carleton still has three more pre-season games spread throughout October to “work through some kinks,” as Urban said.
Then it’s on to the season opener, which tips off against the Western Mustangs on Oct. 25 at the Ravens’ Nest.
And then it’ll be open season again, with the Ravens owning the biggest target on their back.
“Since we’ve won the last two years, I feel like the target just gets bigger,” Poulin said. “But we’re not the same team at the end of the day. We have to go through different things and learn how to play with each other again.”
Featured image provided by Carleton Ravens
